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It had been 20 years since a team had doubled at the CIF-SS Track & Field Finals, but Long Beach Poly knew they had a good shot at it this year. Every point ended up mattering on the boys’ side as the Jackrabbits settled into a tie with Wilson that saw them both crowned co-champions, while the girls’ had a little more breathing room. The Jackrabbits became the first team to win both team titles since they did it in 2004.
“It feels really amazing,” said Poly coach Crystal Irving. “These kids weren’t even born the last time Poly did this. My baby wasn’t even born who’s a senior this year. So this is the best Mother’s Day gift I can ask for. Everyone’s been talking about the boys the boys the boys this year, but don’t sleep on these girls. And they proved it by wrapping it up before the 4×4. I’m super excited that we have a lot of girls and boys returning, and that the future of this team is so bright.”
The two championships were the 129th and 130th in school history, and the 39th and 40th in the history of the Poly track program. The boys now have 18 and the girls have 22, the most of any program at the school or in the city (Poly’s football and boys’ basketball team have 20 each). The Jackrabbits only have two school years out of the last 28 where they haven’t won at least one CIF-SS title.
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The Poly boys defended their team title thanks to literally every single point scored, as they ended up even with Wilson at 44 points each. The boys’ 4×100 started off with a bang as three freshmen and a sophomore in Julius Johnson, Ben Harris, Jaylen McNeil, and Donte Wright brought home the gold in 40.93. Xai Ricks took second in the 400 and anchored a second-place finish in the 4×400. Freshman Ben Harris took second in the 100 and fifth in the 200. Johnson qualified for the 200 in 9th but finished sixth for a massive point pickup. Poly also got a single point from Jonathan Weston in the long jump that would have had them in second had Weston not scored the point.
“I’m extremely proud that we won, we had a lot of injuries on our side this year, we had some times when our hope was down, but we had the brotherhood to come together and win the championship,” said Ricks. “We wanted to win it, we wanted to be a little greedy and win it ourselves, but I’m glad we were able to win.”
On the girls side, Poly won with 96 points, an especially impressive haul given that they only won two events: the 4×100 and the high jump, which junior Jill Wetteland won gold in with a clearance of 5-6.
“I was a little nervous because last year I didn’t do as well as I did freshman year, so I wanted to get my title back,” said Wetteland. “This year I knew how important it was to be clean in my clearances. Winning the team title is super important to us we’re all really excited about that.”
The girls’ 4×100 of Leila Holland, Jaylin Hunter, Aniyah Brooks, and Brooklyn Lee started things off right with a gold in 46.16. All four of those runners contributed points in other races as well.
Holland, a soccer player-turned-track athlete, finished second in the 100 and fifth in the 200.
“We looked at the score prediction and knew that every point would count,” said Holland. “We knew even if we weren’t going to win a race we had to earn every point. So the 100 we didn’t win but we still got 18 points as a team.” Holland took second in the 100, Lee took third, and Brooks took fourth.
Anise Becker also came through with big points scoring silvers in both hurdles races, while Avery Peck finished eighth in the 3200 to earn a point. Thrower Mai Ricks finished fifth in the shot put and sixth in the discus for Poly.
Long Beach Poly (Division 1: 27 entries)
Girls’ 4×100, 1st, 46.16 (Leila Holland, Jaylin Hunter, Aniyah Brooks, Brooklyn Lee)
Boys’ 4×100, 1st, 40.93 (Julius Johnson, Ben Harris, Jaylen McNeil, Donte Wright)
Girls’ 100 Hurdles: Anise Becker, 2nd, 14.26
Girls’ 100 Hurdles: Morgan King, DNF
Girls’ 400: Jaylin Hunter, 5th, 56.84
Girls’ 400: Aliyah Stokes, 8th, 57.33
Boys’ 400: Xai Ricks, 2nd, 47.44
Girls’ 100: Leila Holland, 2nd, 11.86
Girls’ 100: Brooklyn Lee, 3rd, 11.89
Girls’ 100: Aniyah Brooks, 4th, 11.90
Boys’ 100: Ben Harris, 2nd, 10.43
Girls’ 800: Shirayah Lewis-Williams, 7th, 2:15.98
Girls’ 300 Hurdles: Anise Becker, 2nd, 43.62
Girls’ 300 Hurdles: Morgan King, 5th, 44.78
Girls’ 200: Nevaeh Lewis, 3rd, 24.52
Girls’ 200: Leila Holland, 5th, 24.79
Girls’ 200: Brooklyn Lee, 8th, 24.85
Boys’ 200: Ben Harris, 5th, 21.37
Boys’ 200: Julius Johnson, 6th, 21.48
Girls’ 3200: Avery Peck, 8th, 10:53.87
Girls’ 4×400, 2nd, 3:48.59 (Jaylin Hunter, Shirayah Lewis-Williams, Aliyah Stokes, Nevaeh Lewis)
Boys’ 4×400, 2nd, 3:15.16 (Darieon Shufford, Gus Armstrong, Noah Smith, Xai Ricks)
Girls’ High Jump: Jillene Wetteland, 1st, 5-6
Girls’ High Jump: Joy Anderson, 6th, 5-4
Girls’ Shot Put: Mai Ricks, 5th, 39-04
Girls’ Discus: Mai Ricks, 6th, 120-02
Boys’ Long Jump: Jonathan Weston, 8th, 21-1.25
